The announcement by Foreign Minister Moussa Koussa followed a fierce attack by Gadhafi’s forces against Misrata, the last rebel-held city in the western half of the country. A doctor said at least six people were killed.

The U.N. Security Council resolution, which was passed late Thursday after weeks of deliberation, set the stage for airstrikes, a no-fly zone and other military measures short of a ground invasion. Britain announced that it would send fighter jets and France was making plans to deploy planes, but the U.S. had yet to announce what its role would be. NATO also held an emergency meeting.

With the international community mobilizing, Koussa said the government would cease fire in line with the resolution, although he criticized the authorization of international military action, calling it a violation of Libya’s sovereignty.

“The government is opening channels for true, serious dialogue with all parties,” he said during a news conference in Tripoli, the capital.

The attack on Misrata, Libya’s third-largest city, came as the rebels were on the defensive in their eastern stronghold after Gadhafi vowed to launch a final assault and crush the nearly 5-week-old rebellion against him.

The opposition expressed hope the U.N. resolution would help turn the tide in their favor after days of fierce fighting.

“We think Gadhafi’s forces will not advance against us. Our morale is very high now. I think we have the upper hand,” Col. Salah Osman, a former army officer who defected to the rebel side, said. He was speaking at a checkpoint near the eastern town of Sultan.

The Western powers faced pressure to act urgently after weeks spent deliberation over what to do about Gadhafi as his regime gained momentum. The U.S. has positioned a host of forces and ships in the region, including submarines and destroyers and amphibious assault and landing ships with some 400 Marines aboard. It also could provide a range of surveillance assets.

In an interview with Portuguese television broadcast just before the U.N. vote, Gadhafi pledged to respond harshly to U.N.-sponsored attacks. “If the world is crazy,” he said, “we will be crazy, too.”

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Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez told the U.N. General Assembly on Thursday that he smells hope not sulfur, a small compliment for Barack Obama given that he branded then President George W. Bush “the devil” when he last addressed the world body in 2006.
“It doesn’t smell of sulfur. It’s gone. It smells of something else. It smells of hope and you have hope in your heart,” Chavez said during a rambling, 57-minute address where he mentioned close friend and former Cuban President Fidel Castro more than Obama or Bush.

Though at times he waved his arms, shook his fist and pointed for emphasis, Chavez was largely calm and jovial during the speech. He denounced capitalism as being a chief cause of global climate change and accused Obama of making lofty promises but failing to live up to them, asking “doesn’t it seem like there are two Obamas?”

During a raucous press conference after he finished speaking, Chavez said, “I hope the two Obamas join and become one, the one who gave the speech yesterday.”

“Imperialism must end!” he said.

A populist and the leader of a self-declared “socialist revolution” in Venezuela, Chavez also urged Obama to “come over to the socialist side. Come join the Axis of Evil over here.” He was only half-joking.

He also said, “I hope god protects him(Obama) from the bullets that killed Kennedy.”